Conventional absorbent articles, such as disposable diapers, employ absorbent materials located between a liquid pervious bodyside liner and a liquid impermeable outer cover to absorb body exudates. Typically, the liquid pervious bodyside liners have been constructed of nonwoven materials such as spunbond polyolefin materials. Unfortunately, such materials do not always provide a soft, nonabrasive contact with the skin. In particular, during continuous use of absorbent articles containing such liners, the wearer's skin can become quite irritated and red, particularly in the presence of urine and feces. The abrasion resulting from such liners and the presence of urine and feces can undesirably lead to the onset of diaper dermatitis (diaper rash). Diaper dermatitis can afflict almost every infant at some time during the diaper wearing years. Although other factors influence the onset of diaper dermatitis, critical factors include the abrasiveness of the bodyside liner and the hydration level of the wearers skin.
To prevent body exudates from contacting the wearer's skin, the caregiver often applies skin protective products directly to the skin of the wearer before positioning the article on the wearer. Such products have included petrolatum, mineral oil, talc, corn starch, or various other commercially available rash creams or lotions. This procedure typically involves the caregiver applying the product to their hand and then transferring the product to the wearer's skin.
To eliminate the caregiver from contacting the products and to reduce skin abrasion and improve skin health, attention has been given in the art to providing lotion formulations directly on the bodyside liners such that, in use, the lotion formulation either transfers to the skin or provides lubricity thereby reducing the friction between the liner and the skin. Reference is made, for example, to U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,149,934; 6,287,581; and 6,296,862, such references incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
With conventional lotion applications, relatively large amounts of the lotion are incorporated on the liner to ensure sufficient transfer of the lotion to the wearer's skin to deliver the desired skin benefit. This is due primarily to the fact that the lotion tends to migrate away from the surface of the liner and into the liner and underlying absorbent structure leaving less on the surface to transfer to the skin. This migration problem is particularly evident at higher temperatures such as those at the skin surface in use. Thus, to ensure adequate surface coverage, it has been a practice to coat the bodyside liners in large areas or bands. However, this practice may inhibit the ability to intake liquids through the liner. Also, to ensure transfer to the wearer's skin, it is necessary for the entire coated area to contact the skin. This condition may lead to increased abrasion.
The present invention provides an improved lotionized bodyside liner configuration.